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Nuclear Regulatory Commission NRC to Discuss Performance of Dresden Nuclear Power Station May 25

May 18, 2017

Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will be available to discuss the 2016 safety performance of the Dresden nuclear power station operated by Exelon Generation Co. during an open house on Thursday, May 25, in Morris, Ill. The two-unit plant is located in Morris, 25 miles southwest of Joliet.

The open house will be held from 4:30-6 p.m., at the Grundy County Administration Building, Grundy County Board Room, 1320 Union St. On hand to discuss the plant's performance and the NRC's oversight of the facility will be agency employees responsible for inspections of the plant, including the resident inspectors based at the site on a full-time basis.

"Our inspectors stationed at the plant and other members of the NRC staff are looking forward to speaking with members of the community," said NRC Region III Deputy Administrator Darrell Roberts. "This open house is a great opportunity for us to provide information about what we do to verify the safe operation of the Dresden plant and answer questions about other nuclear safety topics."

Overall, Dresden Unit 2 and Unit 3 operated safely during 2016.

Dresden Unit 2 is currently under regular NRC oversight, because all inspection findings and performance indicators were of very low safety significance. As a result, it is currently under the NRC's baseline level of oversight, which entails thousands of hours of inspection each year.

Dresden Unit 3 is under increased NRC oversight due to a finding related to the plant's failure to verify the adequacy of design for a pump motor on a safety system. This deficiency resulted in pump failure, which would make the safety system unavailable to fulfill its function in certain accident conditions. The pump has been repaired and the NRC will conduct a follow-up inspection to verify that the plant has taken appropriate actions to resolve the performance deficiency.

NRC inspectors also determined that this performance issue was associated with the cross-cutting area of human performance. Cross-cutting issues, which can affect multiple areas of plant operation, cannot be quantified and are not assigned safety significance. The NRC monitors these issues because they can be early indicators of potential negative trends in a plant's safety performance.

Day-to-day inspections are performed by two resident inspectors assigned to the plant. Reviews are also carried out at the sites by specialist inspectors assigned to the agency's Region III office in Lisle, Ill.

The Annual Assessment letter for Dresden, as well as the notice for the meeting, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information for Unit 2 and Unit 3 is also available.